(SportTechie.com) This college football season, some quarterbacks will practice their dropbacks and throws contending not with an imposing linebacker but instead with a hologram of one. Those players will be using VAR Football’s virtual and augmented reality technology to get in necessary off-the-field practice and train themselves to read and react quickly in live game situations. So far, among the schools to have used VAR Football technology are Nebraska, Nevada, Texas A&M, Oregon State and Washington State, according to CEO Austin James Smith.
The VAR uses HTC Vive’s VR headset and Microsoft’s HoloLens for virtual and augmented reality training, With NCAA rules keeping live practice time to just 20 hours per week, off-the-field practice is vital
Many colleges across the country use a similar virtual reality program by STRIVR, but Norvell told the newspaper that STRIVR is prohibitively expensive for schools with tighter budgets.